Craving List

Just some random things that could weep me off my feet at the moment..

1. Earphone

I need a good earphone where I can hear the bass line of every song I hear. This might be the reason why I tend to listen music in high volume.

2.  Instax Fujifilm

It would be really nice to have this palm-sized photo machine. Every photo you have in your phone can be printed on polaroid paper!

3. Mermaid Swimming Lesson

Actually there is a mermaid swimming lesson in Sydney! I'd like to become a mermaid one day!

4. Blowtorch

To make my perfect meringue!!

5. Silicone Mould

For my cake decorations of course!

6. Latte Art Lesson

Looking forward to this lesson someday! Frothing milk, dripping coffee, and art on top!

7. Almond Body Milk from Loccitaine

The secret to my sweet scent and luminous skin ;)

8. Miranda Kerr's collection of Swarovski Necklace

Love the elegant touch of this necklace

9. Hero by Rhoda Byrne

I'm a nerd for self-help books, especially Rhonda Byrne's. I really like feeding my mind with others' insight.

10. Live Octopus pieces

Want to go to Korea to simply try this dish.

11. Noodles

I'm a constantly hungry girl who needs supply of noodles in her life. I want to try this Bakmie Pontianak in Kuta, Bali.

Food Science and Pastry

Some of you might have already known that I'm currently taking a Baking and Pastry program in Sydney. It has been a blast and I had amazing experience on making cakes, desserts, and lots of other sweets. So far it has been 6 months of constant kitchen environment, working with others, and flours all over my apron, and not to mention that I melt every piece of chocolate with my hot pair of hands.

Before I took this pastry program, I studied food science in college, getting to know food structure, food chemistry and all that. It turns out to be a really good foundation before jumping on to the field of culinary, where the food science knowledge lets me know how each ingredient interact with other ingredients, machines, etc.

Let's say you are making a sponge cake. You notice how soft and fluffy a sponge cake is, and it does not have a resistance when you bite into it. This delicate texture can be achieved by limiting the amount of gluten that you are developing in the batter. Gluten is a protein that is formed when you mix wheat or rye or barley flour with liquid. The more you mix them together, the more development of gluten you have, hence the tougher the baked product is going to turn out. Take a look at the texture of sour dough, baguette, and other breads. They are tougher and more elastic than most cakes because there are more gluten developed in the bread. 

On the first day of baking school, this kind of information is the first info that chefs gave me and other students in the lecture. That day I felt so blessed that I understood this gluten concept from the food science classes I took before. However, I also felt unfair for the other new pastry students, finding this concept difficult to grasp. "What is a protein? what is gluten? what is gluten development and why am I learning science stuffs instead of baking?" These are the students' most common comments the chefs are giving the lecture. And oh how I wish they could have more interest in the science. I bet they'll find it intriguing.

Sometimes this looks like what's on my mind when I'm making bread, with teeny tiny bits of molecular level I sounded clever HAHAHA

I do believe that if you understand the science behind the ingredients you are using to make food, you will find that the recipe makes sense. For example if a recipe says not to mix the batter too long, in the back of your mind you simply know that you want to avoid the gluten development so you can have a softer cake. So you're not just following recipe because it says so, but you comprehend what makes the recipe say so.

Sometimes I also want us to know how to measure liquids. For an instance, a recipe says you need 1 kg of water and 1 kg of olive oil. These two ingredient has different density. Remember your elementary school experiment where you put oil and water together and the oil stays on top of the water? Yes, it is exactly what that is about. The oil stays on top because its density is less than water's. In another words, it will take more volume of oil to fill up the same volume of water , or less kg of oil to fill up the same kg of water. density = mass/ volume). 

Now, you go to the supermarket and you grab a 1 L bottled water to get 1 kg of water that the recipe say. You are doing a fantastic job! You are correct because water's density is always 1. Putting on the equation, you have 1 kg/ m^3 = 1 kg/ 1L (density = mass/ vol) and you totally bought the right amount of water needed for the recipe. However now, if you are taking 1 L of olive oil, it does not give you 1 kg of olive oil. Try and scale it. Oil usually has a density around 0.9, so if you are pouring all 1 litre of the olive oil to make the recipe, you're pouring extra 100 grams (0.1 kg) of olive oil to the mixture. If you're making a cake, your cake batter will likely to turn more liquidy than it is supposed to. Or if you're making a mayo, your mix can be messy. It might be a common sense, but common sense is not so common :(

Yesterday, I was working in the kitchen with other chefs, preparing desserts for guests coming to the restaurant. One guest ordered a gluten free dessert and my chef decided to give a Pavlova, an Australian dessert which has strawberries, blueberries, meringue, whip cream and custard. Yes, normally we have a custard in it but the chef decided to take out the custard from the Pavlova. I asked why chef didn't want the custard, then he replied because in the custard it contains corn flour, and corn flour is not gluten-free because it has flour. 

My heart and brain was so confused at that moment. I know corn flour is the same as what American people call for corn starch, and it does not contain gluten or the protein necessary to make gluten. Even if it contains flour, only flour from wheat rye, and barley have the ability to make gluten. The concept he gave to me, that corn flour is not gluten free because it has flour, I can't grasp.  

What I think about gluten back then:

What I think chef thinks I think about gluten:

             What I think about gluten now:

JK. Maybe people that has gluten sensitivity is sensitive to corn, it's possible. And I still respect the decision that chef made. 

Raspberry Mousse Cake

RASPBERRY MOUSSE CAKE

Three components of the cake are:

1. Sable Breton 

2. Raspberry Mousse

3. Raspberry Glaze

Recipes and Methods:

(Recipe below makes 6 domes of raspberry mousse cakes)

1. Sable Breton

Delicate and crunchy base holds the raspberry mousse dome and balances the smooth and air texture of the mousse. 

65 g egg yolk

130 g sugar

170 g butter

3 drops vanilla extract

180g all purpose flour

6g baking powder

1 pinch of salt

a) In a mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar on a medium speed mixer for 2 mins

b) Add in egg yolks and vanilla essence to the mixture above until combined together

c) Mix flour and baking powder together and add them into the mixture

d) Work the dough by flattening-rolling-flattening it on a floured surface

e)Wrap the dough and refrigerate overnight

f) The day after, roll out the dough using rolling pin to a 5mm thickness and cut to shape with a ring cutter. (I use 7cm ring cutter to match the diameter of the fleximold)

g) Still attached to the ring cutter, bake the dough at 180 C for 15 mins or until golden color

f) Take out the sable breton from the ring and let it cool to room temperature

2. Raspberry Mousse

Gives a light and airy texture to the whole component, and balanced between acidity and sweetness of a dessert

250g raspberry puree

50g sugar

12.5 g gelatine sheets

250ml whipped cream

a) soak gelatine in cold water. If you're using gelatine powder, use 6.5 g

b) in a pan, heat together the sugar and raspberry puree until the sugar is dissolved. 

(If you can't find the puree in supermarket, you can make your own by boiling 1/4 cup or 

 62.5 ml of water in a saucepan, simmer until the sugar dissolved, and cool. Blend this  sugar syrup together with raspberry until smooth.)

c) Once the puree and sugar are heated, turn the heat off and add in the soaked gelatine         until it completely melts

d) fold in whipped cream (preferably at soft peak/ lightly whipped) until combined and      forms a nice and even pink color

e) prepare a semi-sphere mold on a tray, pour the mousse into the mould,  freeze overnight

Fleximould, semisphere 70mmx 35mm

*The next day*

3) Raspberry glaze

A shiny red that covers the dome, sweet and fruity component.

150g raspberry puree

5g icing sugar

5g gelatine sheets or 2.5 g gelatine powder

10g flan gel

a) soak gelatine sheets

b) boil 50 g puree, sugar and flan gel

c) add in gelatine to the mixture until it melts completely

d) add in the remaining 100g of puree

e) let mixture cool down

Assembly:

1) Take out the mousse from the freezer, and take the mousse out by simply pushing down     the fleximould

2) Prepare a tray and place a cooling rack on top

3) Place the mousse dome on top of the cooling rack

4) Pour the raspberry glaze on top of the dome in a circular motion until it covers the   surface of the mousse completely

5) Lift the glazed mousse by slipping a knife or palet knife on the bottom of the mousse

6) pick it up with your hand or a palet knife and place it on top of the baked sable breton

7) garnish as you desired

If you do not own a cooling rack, 

1) keep the raspberry glaze in a small deep container

2) take a chopstick and insert the top part of chopstick to the flat part of the mousse. Make sure the mousse is steady and does not move around

3) Hold the chopstick that is connected to the mousse, and dip the mouse in the glaze while gently spinning the chopstick 

4) make sure the glaze covers the entire surface of the mousse

5) pick up the mousse using your hand and place it on top of baked sable breton

6) garnish as desired

*****GOOD LUCK IN THE KITCHEN*****

Gateau St Honore

Dear you who love baking and wondering how to make this popular Saint Honore cake,

Here's a recipe just perfect to produce these two items,

                                                          a 20 cm (diameter) St Honore

                                                        and a 9 cm (diameter) St Honore

Components are:

1) Puff Pastry
This would be the base of the St Honore.
In order to save time, you can get a commercial puff pastry sheets/dough from the grocery store; or start fresh using the English Method recipe* (I put the recipe on the end of this post)

1. Using a knife, cut the puff pastry sheets into 2 circles, one 20cm and one 9cm diameter. You can use cake board or ring cutter as a guide.
2. Place the circles on top of tray lined with silicone paper (baking paper)
3. Dock the puff pastry with fork by gently stabbing from the the surface
4. Rest in fridge for 15 mins

2) Choux Paste

Choux paste is used to make pastry items such as eclairs, profiterols, corquembouche, and St. Honore.

250 ml  Water                                                      

100  g    Butter, room temperature

pinch     Salt

pinch     Sugar
*Boil these ingredients in a pot/ deep saucepan.

190  g   Bread flour (Bakers flour)

*Mix in flour to the boiling liquid immediately. Combine until there is no lumps of flour, and until         you are able to hear a sizzling sound. Transfer into a mixing bowl and let it cool to body  temperature.                      

300  g  Eggs                                                        
 *Add eggs gradually, mix it on medium speed. Scrape the sides of your bowl using spatula each time eggs are added. Lift the whole paste using scraper, it should drop in 3-4 seconds making a V-shape. The paste should look shiny. 

1. Prepare a tray, spray it with oil and dusted with a little bit of flour.
2. Put the choux paste into a piping bag and put a 8mm piping tube, twist the edge to prevent paste from leaking out. 
3. Place the tip of your piping tube 1 cm above the tray surface, and pipe out the choux paste (imagine a shape of hershey kisses but as big as macarons). Pipe at least 15 pieces. This would go to your 20 cm St Honore.
4. On the same tray, same method, pipe out smaller version of the above. At least 1 cm smaller in diameter. These are for your 9cm St Honore.
5. Dab gently the kisses (the tail that goes up as in hershey kisses) using fork.
6. Break an egg and mix. Take a pastry brush to gently egg wash your piped choux paste.
7. Prepare another tray, lined with silicone/baking paper. Put the puff pastry on top.
8. Use the remaining of choux paste to pipe spiral on top of your puff pastry like so,

            you can use the same piping tube that you used to pipe previously. Do for both 20                                 cm and 9 cm puff pastry. Egg wash using pastry brush.

   9.   Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes together with the other tray.

  10. Take out from the oven, let it cool to room temperature.

3) Chantilly Cream

This would be the cream that goes on top and inside your St Honore.

500 ml  Heavy Cream (Thickened Cream)                                

  50   g  Icing sugar (Powdered sugar)
*Whip it together until the cream can hold its shape. Rest in fridge.

1. Take the 35 pieces of "Hershey Kisses" choux, and make a hole from top using the tip of your knife. 
2. Take a piping bag, and use the smallest piping tube to pipe out the chantilly cream into the choux through the hole you just made.

4) Caramel

This is the shiny part that goes on top of your choux pastry, and also the "bird nest" that you've seen on the 20 cm St Honore picture above.

500 g  Sugar                                                    

200 g  Water  
*In a sauce pan, boil sugar and water to amber color. Turn heat off. The caramel is ready to use.

Assembly:

1. Prepare a tray lined with silicone mat and bring the saucepan of caramel close to the silicone mat, so you can dip and stick the "Hershey Kisses" choux easily.
2. Take one of the choux (that you just piped with chantilly cream), dip the flat surface into the caramel. Just the surface. Be mindful not to burn your finger.
3. Place this flat surface on top of silicone mat. Move on to next choux repeat step 2.
4. When the caramel sets (at least for 2 minutes), you would be able to peel the choux off easily from the silicone mat.
5. Take the baked 20cm puff pastry and put it near your work station. 
6. Pipe chantilly cream to cover gaps between the spiral in your puff pastry.
7. Peel the big choux by simply lifting them up from the silicone mat. Dip the other side (the part that has hole for piping chantilly cream) into the caramel. Then, stick it on the edge of the puff pastry.
8. Now you should have choux pastries surrounding the chantilly cream. It does not necessarily 15 pieces of choux to do this, stick just enough choux onto the edge.
9. Pipe some more chantilly cream and bring to a height that you desire. Mine is piped to 1 c below the level of the choux. You can be as creative as you want, using the star nozzle, leaf nozzle, etc.
10. Place "bird nest" on top.
11. Repeat step 5 to 9 to the 9 cm St Honore, using 9cm baked puff pastry and small baked choux pastries.

To make the bird nest (sugar spun),

• take 2 forks and a big bowl
• dip the forks in the caramel
• lift them up and bring them to one edge of the bowl
• stretch the caramel back and forth across the bowl, going as quickly as possible
• release from the bowl and bring the edges together
• place on top of the chantilly cream
• garnish with strawberries, lemons, edible flowers, or anything else as you desire.

                                       ***GOOD LUCK IN THE KITCHEN!***

                                                                                                                              

         

*English Method Puff Pastry

220 g     Bread flour (Bakers flour)

    2 g     Salt

  22 g     Unsalted Butter

132 g     Water, cold

    1 g      Lemon juice (optional)

165 g      Unsalted butter sheet, preconditioned or room temperature

1. Sift flour and salt in a bowl. Then, use your fingers to rub the 22 g butter in the flour mix until it resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Add water and lemon juice in the centre and mix together.
3. Attach a dough hook on your mixer, and start kneading the mix into a smooth dough. Roll into a ball.
4. Wrap the ball using plastic wrap and rest it for 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
5. Take the ball out from the fridge and flatten the dough to a rectangle shape (20 cm x 30 cm) with 1 cm thickness.
6. Cut butter sheet into 165g, which is just enough to cover 2/3 rd of the rectangle dough.
7. Fold over the remaining 1/3 of the dough towards the middle, then fold the other 1/3 part to the middle, to enclose the butter. See the picture below.
8. Flatten this dough with a rolling pin to a rectangle approximately 60cm x 20cm, keeping the sides straight. 
9. Fold the dough into three, the same way you fold the dough on no.7, and don't forget to seal the edges.
10. Flatten the dough again using rolling pin, by rolling it out the opposite direction to that previously done and fold it again into three. Now your dough has been given 2 turns.
11. Wrap and rest in the fridge for 30 mins.
12. Repeat steps 8-11 twice more to give you a total of 6 turns.

April Words

 

 Just some quotes and words I feel like sharing ....

Your Second Brain

Have you ever heard people telling you to use your gut instinct?

Do you know that it is the most effective way to make a decision?

Embrace your second brain.

We think of intelligence as a deliberate, conscious activity based on the law of logic. However, much of our mental life is unconscious, based on processes alien to logic: gut feelings or intuition. We have intuition about friends, who we should hang with, sports, which detergent to buy, and so on. But can following your gut feelings lead to the best decision?

Research have proven gut feelings to be the best tools for making decision.
I know, it seems naive and silly to think so, but take a look at where it comes from.

Picture from Chapter 6. Limbic System, Amygdala. (Wright, 2015)

The unconscious mind comes form the amygdala, pointed in the red section of the brain picture.




In the brain, amygdala is a part of the limbic system, the place where communication between reasonings and feelings takes place.

Everything you see, smell, hear, taste and touch travels through your body in the form of electric signals. These signals pass from cell to cell until they reach their ultimate destination, your brain. They enter your brain at the base near spinal cord and must travel to your frontal lobe (behind your forehead) before you can think rationally about your experience. But first they travel through the limbic system, the place where you get your "gut reactions", those subjective feelings, about what is good and what is bad. (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009)

                Picture from the book of Emotional Intelligence 2.0. (Bradberry & Greaves, 2009)

Because the electric signal reach the limbic system before it reaches the rational part of the brain, "gut reactions" that we experience comes much more quickly than the logical pathway. And this is the part where people tend to miss. It comes in so fast that people do not realize its signal coming, and just decide that logical reasoning is the best way to go.

This gut feelings is hard to explain using logic. Say, in a simple form, you're contemplating between cheating your classmate in an exam and not cheating. Your limbic system sends a discomfort signal in your gut, telling that cheating is bad. However, due to how easily the gut reaction is to be ignored, your logic says cheating increases the chance of getting a good score in that exam. Therefore, you cheat.

When dealing with more complicated things, it gets harder to explain rationally. Especially in a situation where you have to explain yourself, and telling your friends or coworkers that you just don't feel like doing a thing leaves them bedazzled. When you tell them that your gut says "no", they would tell you that you don't make sense and say that gut is the place for food.  Blahhhh.

Now you know how it make sense, it comes from your brain as well.

On Piano

Hello, there!

I just got home from school and what a hectic day today! 

Anyway, I was in the bus on my home and there was this guy asking me about religion and stuffs. And at the end he kind of asked me why I don't have an accent. What is he referring to exactly? I never heard something like that before.

I just said to him I grew up watching American movies. haha

Also, I'd like to share you a video of me playing piano :) 

Thought you might enjoy that and have a relaxing evening!

Make sure to check out the video under this link below:

Kiss The Rain, River Flows In You, Reason